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Australian executive says media reports of a hacking were exaggerated

A man was arrested July 28 in New South Wales, Australia, in the probe of the National Broadband Network hacking scandal, which police say could be the country’s biggest-ever compromise, ABC New Australia reported. But on July 29, NBN’s chief executive said the hacking of one of the company’s providers, Platform Networks, has been distorted by the media.

Officials said that the hacker bypassed NBN’s firewalls and security systems to gain access to the $36 billion company’s infrastructure, where he could have compromised the network even more or collapse it completely. But chief executive Michael Quigley told The World Today that NBN’s structure was never in danger, as was alleged by Opposition party communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull.

"That statement is factually incorrect,” Quigley fired back. “Our network was not mapped. There's no evidence at all our security was compromised in any way by this individual.”

Police told news sources that a number of companies may have been compromised as a result of the hacking, but they believe personal data wasn’t leaked. Authorities told The World Today they expect to make more arrests. The Australian Federal Police have announced that a forensic test will be performed on the alleged hacker’s computer to learn the full scope of his activities, ABC Australia reported.